The Domain

The Domain
Portugal, France | 2019 | 164’ | DCP | Colour | Portuguese | Group: B
Director: Tiago Guedes

Director Tiago Guedes opens his fifth feature with a scene of dramatic beauty. The arresting quiet of the Portuguese countryside witnesses a terrible episode that will mark the life of young Joao Fernandez forever. 20 years later, while the right wing Estado Novo regime still governs Portugal, Joao has become a wealthy landowner and the uncompromising patriarch of his own family. The Fernandez saga will stretch for more than 40 years of Portuguese history and the family has to contend with tumultuous political and social changes in the country, as well as the fallout of its own secrets and lies. Guedes owes a debt to 19^th century Portugese writer Jose Maria Eca de Queiroz in his realist storytelling, yet creates a unique artistic vision in showing how the initimate family universe shatters under the turbulence of external events. As another extraordinary nineteen century writer said, “all that is solid melts into air.”

– Violeta Bava

The story takes place on the south bank of the River Tagus, where a wealthy Portuguese family that owns one of the largest estates in Europe begins to delve deep into the secrets of their mysterious homestead. The Domain is a historical, political, economic and social chronicle that takes place during the 1940s, through the Carnation Revolution and up to the present day.

Portugal’s Tiago Guedes graduated in Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy. He also attended the Directing of Actors course with Patrick Tucker at Raindance London. His first feature film Blood Curse (2005) was co-directed with Frederico Serra and played at festivals including Sitges and Busan. Serra also co-directed Noise (2008) which played at San Sebastian, Cartagena, Turin and Sao Paolo. The Domain had its world premiere in competition at Venice and also screened in Toronto; Guedes has also completed the comic adventure Tristeza E Alegria Na Vida Das Girafas which opened in Portugal last month.